Shareef O’Neal Decommitts From Arizona Amidst Scandal

Shareef O’Neal, a top-30 recruit and son of Shaquille O’Neal, has announced that he is decommitting from Arizona.

Shareef O’Neal had originally committed to the University of Arizona last April. Due to shocking news involving Wildcats’ head coach Sean Miller, things have changed.

An ESPN report Friday night revealed that FBI wiretaps retrieved several phone conversations between Miller and Christian Dawkins, a runner for agent Andy Miller. In the conversations, the two discussed paying $100,000 to ensure potential No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton would sign with the Arizona.

At this time I'm am opening up my recruitment due to the current events with the UofA Bball team.I would like to thank all the coaches for recruiting me. At the time my family and I think it's in my best interest to look at other options to assure my play in the NCAA next year.

ESPN also reported that Miller would not coach Arizona’s game against Oregon on Saturday.

O’Neal is the No. 29 ranked prospect in the 2018 class. The 6-foot-9 power forward from the Crossroads School (CA) averaged 13.9 points and 6.5 rebounds on the Nike EYBL circuit with the California Supreme AAU team during the spring and summerb of 2017.

O’Neal did not sign a letter of intent during the early signing period, only signing non-binding financial aid papers with the university. With that, O’Neal doesn’t require Arizona to release him in order to go elsewhere.

Prior to committing to Arizona, O’Neal include Kentucky and LSU, his father’s alma mater, among the schools of interest.

Minus O’Neal, Arizona’s 2018 class consists of top-100 point guard Brandon Williams. who also decided against signing a binding letter of intent in November.